By: Allison Myers

Good morning from the Highlands. It’s Saturday morning and I’m sitting in a small, quaint café on Bardstown Road that’s busting at the seams with activity. A large group of women celebrate a birthday and another large group of friends talk about their canoeing trip (yes, I ease drop on occasion). Several families, couples and even some parties of one share a beautiful Louisville Saturday enjoying coffee, eggs, waffles and pancakes.

The space is small. Basically, it’s two rooms with tables and chairs. There’s also a couple of tables outside on the sidewalk, which is a great spot for people watching. Lots of Louisville love covers the walls with pictures of Louisville icons from Hunter S. Thompson to Jennifer Lawrence.

Highland Morning’s menu features home-style southern breakfast and lunch eats that simply make your mouth happy. I love that they serve breakfast and lunch all day long. The menu has traditional favorites like eggs benedict, huevos rancheros, omelets and their award winning biscuits and gravy.

What makes Highland Morning stand out among all the breakfast/brunch spots in the Ville? One word –waffles!

“Come on get happy, don’t worry, be happy,” and “because I’m happy,” play in my head as I devour the amazingly perfect Dutch Apple Pie Waffles. Seriously. My life has been forever changed by this tasty morning treat. Dutch Apple Pie Waffles ($8.49) are new to the regular menu. The golden brown waffles are stuffed with spiced apples and white chocolate chips, covered with homemade vanilla compote and graham cracker crusts and topped with real whipped cream and caramel drizzle. It’s nice they come in four little mini waffles making it easy to share.

For all you Nutella lovers, you must try the Katie’s Leaning Tower of Waffles ($7.99). It’s a tower of crispy Belgian waffles stacked high with Nutella and fresh strawberries in each layer and topped with whipped cream and sprinkled with powdered sugar. It’s a beautiful display of waffles that’s almost edible art.

Although waffles are my jam, I can get down with omelets as well. Trying to have a well-rounded breakfast, I decided to try out a couple of omelets. Highland Morning’s omelets are served with famous Kentucky stone ground grits or you can substitute grits of the day or skillet potatoes for 99 cents.

The Ultimate Veggie Omelet ($8.49) is a three-egg omelet filled with spinach, mushrooms, tomatoes, onions and cheese. I added pico de gallo for a little extra flavor and went with the skillet potatoes. My omelet was light and fluffy and the veggies were delicious and cooked well. The skillet potatoes were a nice complement to the omelet. My only regret was adding the pico de gallo as just too much. It completely covered the omelet. Maybe next time I’ll just ask for a side of pico.

The Kentucky’s Pick Three Omelet ($8.99) a three-egg omelet filled with your favorite three ingredients, freshly diced bacon, diced ham, Purnell’s sausage, onions, fresh peppers, mushrooms, diced tomatoes, jalapenos, baby spinach, diced avocados and your choice of one: American, cheddar, cheddar-jack, pepper jack, Swiss cheese or shredded mozzarella. My husband ordered it with bacon, jalapenos and fresh peppers and cheese. I have to say it was a better choice than my veggie omelet. I enjoyed the texture of the light, fluffy eggs mixed with the flavors of the savory bacon and the hotness of the peppers. It’s true. Bacon always makes everything better.

Service was prompt and attentive even though the place was packed. No wonder they recently expanded to the former comic store space next door.

To quote their tagline “Breakfast Done Right” is how they roll at Highland Morning. So go on, jump in and get happy!